


Salt Water & Sun

by hydrangea



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: AU, F/M, Sirens, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21620452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrangea/pseuds/hydrangea
Summary: Caspian, please, if at all possible, find out what happened to our sister.
Relationships: Caspian/Lucy Pevensie
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74
Collections: Lucian Exchange 2019





	Salt Water & Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Syrena_of_the_lake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syrena_of_the_lake/gifts).



_ Caspian, please, if at all possible, find out what happened to our sister. _

  
  
  


The  _ Dawn Treader _ pierced a wave, dipped down into the next valley and then sliced through another crest. The spray of salt water felt like rain on Caspian’s face, cold against his heated skin. Setting off in summer had been a necessity, but as the wind carried the  _ Dawn Treader  _ further south, those with Narnian skin began to redden and flake, while those blessed with a Calormene ancestor browned under the strong sun. Caspian had never much thought of his great great grandmother as someone of much consequence to him, but as the sailors from Galma suffered under the sun despite their many precautions, he found he was much grateful to her.

“Your highness.”

_ Finally _ . Caspian turned toward Drinian. “Are we closing in on the last sighting, then?”

“The water girl says we have reached their traditional summer waters.” 

“Naiad.” He didn’t wait for Drinian to acknowledge his correction - some battles would never be won. Drinian’s hatred of the sea people ran deep and the talk was that there were very good reasons behind it. “Have we found a good place to anchor?”

Caspian’s mind drifted as Drinian walked him through the preparations for their search, the desperation hidden beneath the polite request Peter had made of him before the three siblings left for their own country haunting him.

The four thrones from the Golden Age were still in Cair Paravel, a monument hidden behind the throne in use, as if they were a lucky charm. Four thrones, and yet he had only met two kings and a queen. Even he, Telmarine by upbringing, had heard the story of the Queen’s Leap, but he had never connected it to the stories of Narnia’s Golden Age. Professor Cornelius had certainly not mentioned it.

“Your  _ highness _ .”

Caspian startled out of his thoughts, running what Drinian had last said through his mind. “Yes, that sounds fine. Has there been any word about the messages sent through the Sea People outside of Narnia’s coast?”

“No--” Drinian’s eyes narrowed, “if you’ll excuse me, your highness, there is--  _ Sailor, put that down! _ ”

Caspian stifled a sigh as Drinian stalked off toward some unfortunate sailor and turned back to face the bow of the ship. He would find out what had happened to Queen Lucy the Valiant, the One Who Lept. And while no one knew when someone would next travel to Narnia through the will of Aslan, he would make sure that when someone did, there would be news for them.

  
  
  


They were on their fourth day of waiting when something finally happened. Most of the crew had gone ashore to do various tasks and stock up on supplies, but Caspian had chosen to stay on the ship. Whether he was hoping for news or simply wanted some solitude, he honestly couldn’t even tell himself. The weather was, however, pleasant, and sitting on deck with work seemed a good way to mitigate the boredom.

His only warning that something was about to happen was the startled yell from the crow’s nest, then a wave slapped across the side of the ship, drenching him as something - some _ one _ , he realised - landed with a dull thump on the deck. And, then, with another dull thump, landed again as they fell over.

“Ow. I forgot about… gravity? Yes, that’s the word. Gravity and...legs.”

Caspian stared at the young woman in front of him, naked as the day she was born but for the gold twined around her legs and arms and curled into her bright hair. For some reason, he couldn't look away, couldn’t even close his eyes, and--

The young woman smiled at him, her teeth not quite jagged but sharper than he thought they really ought to be. “Hello there! I heard you are looking for me?”

Opening his mouth seemed impossible. 

The woman watched him patiently. After a while, she sighed, shifted onto her knees and crawled over to put a soft, cold hand across his eyes. “We are going to have to work on that,” she told him.

His breath exploded out of him - when had he stopped breathing? - and suddenly his mind swam with all kinds of information that had somehow frozen the moment the woman washed onboard. 

“Queen Lucy?” He coughed, trying to clear the rasp from his voice.

Her free hand took his and guided it to his face. “Here, cover your eyes for me. It’s really not comfortable to stand over you like this. Or polite.” Then, once he had followed her instructions, “Not Queen Lucy, not anymore. You may call me…Siren. Or just Lucy.”

“Siren Lucy?”

She laughed, the sound muddying his mind again. “Perhaps not! Lucy, then. And you are Caspian, King of Narnia.”

Caspian managed to wrench his mind back to the subject at hand with some effort. “Your brother asked me to find you...to find out what had become of you.” When there was no reply, Caspian debated for a second, then slowly lowered his hand. Lucy was...still naked, but the strange mind-dulling effect that she had had on him when she appeared seemed to have gone. Perhaps because of the look of utter grief on her face.

“They have visited again, then,” Lucy said after some time, her voice thick, and, once again, devoid of its earlier magic. “I didn’t hear.”

“They hoped to see you.” Without thinking, he took her hand. “They miss you.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and, in a movement without any hint of her earlier awkwardness, she leapt to her feet. “I have to go. I--” For a moment, she met his eyes. “I will return.”

Then she was gone, the water closing above her as if she had never pierced the surface.

  
  
  


_ “There came a warning from the Sea.” Peter shared a look with his siblings. “You will meet them when you’re formally crowned at Cair Paravel.” _

_ “Them?” Then, “Warning?” _

_ “The Sea People,” Edmund clarified. “We never knew more than the local kingdom under the Sea, but the lands below the water are as vast as those above.” _

_ Susan sighed. “Let’s stay on subject, shall we?” She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how well you know this, since the Telmarines seem to have a lot of fears about the sea, but Narnia’s coast is vulnerable to the sea. From time to time - maybe once every generation - there is a great storm or wave that desolates the land. In the old times - before the White Witch - Narnia knew how to cope. During our rule, the knowledge had been all but lost.” _

_ “The Sea People generally know before we do,” Edmund added. “And that is what happened: a message came from the Sea People that unless action was taken, a Great Wave would come to desolate the Narnian coast--” _

_ “--and Galma and Terebinthia--” _

_ “--and Gamla and Terebinthia,” Edmund agreed.  _

_ “What can you do to stop a wave?” He might not know the sea, but he knew the flooding that happened in springs. “We could never fully tame the spring foods.” _

_ “Magic.” Peter’s voice was flat. _

_ “Deep magic,” Susan corrected, a note of disapproval in her voice - but not, Caspian thought, toward the magic. “If a person bound to Narnia’s deep magic gave themselves to become one of the sea’s own, Narnia would be spared as repayment.” _

_ “We discussed it--” _

_ “ _ You _ discussed it, Peter.” _

_ “ _ We _ discussed it, but our sister decided to take it into her own hands.” _

_ “ _ Peter _!” There was a not wholly human tone to Susan’s voice, much reminiscent of the Lion. _

_ Peter snapped his mouth shut.  _

_ “Lucy loved Narnia. She also loved Galma and Terebinthia.” Edmund took a deep breath, eyes distant. “She went out one night and took herself off the cliff.” _

_ “She  _ killed  _ herself?”  _

_ “No!” Susan almost shouted. “She  _ offered _ herself and the Sea took her up on it.” _

_ “Aslan’s Roar almost brought down the castle,” Edmund added dryly. _

_ “He was angry?” Caspian asked, trying to make sense of it all. _

_ Peter began to answer, but after a glare from Susan, he stopped.  _

_ “We don’t know, is the simple answer.” The simple answer, maybe. The tone of Susan’s voice said that she might have plenty of her own thoughts on the matter. “We do know that she didn’t die. And we do know that the life span of the Sea People is not the same as those on land.” _

_ When Peter spoke up this time, Susan didn’t stop him. _

_ “So, Caspian, please, if at all possible, find out what happened to our sister.” _

  
  
  


She came again the next evening, when the sun bathed the sea in reds and pinks, the smell of bonfires on land drifting out over the water. Caspian had stayed on the ship again, hoping - wanting - Lucy to come again. 

He was leaning over the railing when he heard her voice, coming in from the sea. She was singing, something gentle and melodious that worked itself under his skin. For a moment, he felt like there was nothing else in the world that mattered, then he forcibly closed his eyes and dug his nails into his palm, taking a deep breath.

This was important.

“Hello there!” he called, once he had gathered himself.

The sea lion that Lucy sat astride (for a moment, Caspian had found himself thinking it was a lion, but that  _ had _ to be a remnant of her magic) barked and deposited her in the water beside the ship, before taking off. Lucy laughed and waved at it, then did the same to Caspian before diving below and then somehow, incredibly, driving herself from the water and into the air, landing (slightly more) gracefully on deck. This time, Caspian thought, she at least didn’t fall over.

“Hello!” she greeted him again. “I have returned, as promised.”

“You have,” Caspian agreed and resolutely did not watch anything beneath her shoulders. “I don’t suppose I could interest you in clothing?”

Lucy looked down at herself. “Oh yes. That’s a thing, isn’t it? I had forgotten.” She carefully draped some hair to cover her...front. “Is this better? Putting on clothing would get quite annoying when I go back into the water.”

Caspian dared a glance. It did cover her...mostly.

“It will do,” he decided.

“Well, it rather has to,” Lucy told him, “since that’s as far as I’m willing to go.”

Caspian tried to ignore a snicker from somewhere above him. 

“Can we talk a little?” he asked. “We wondered - no one knows what happened to you after you…” He searched for a word that wouldn’t offend her. “...left.”

Lucy blinked at him, then grinned. “After I sacrificed myself to the sea, you mean.” She shook her head, lips twitching. “I’m several hundred years old, Caspian. Word play is wasted on me.”

“Because you’re a siren?” The words slipped out before Caspian could stop them, but he had  _ wondered _ .

“Because I’m  _ old _ ,” Lucy corrected. “And you, my dear, are very young.”

Caspian flushed. Whether it was because of the concept of being  _ very young _ or being called ‘my dear’ he was never going to tell. Ever.

Lucy’s eyes laughed at him, but there was no pity in her them as she motioned for him to sit. “Let’s talk then, Caspian. I will tell you my story...and I do hope you will tell it to my family should you see them again.”

“I promised them,” Caspian told her.

Lucy nodded. “I believe you.”

  
  
  


They talked much over the next dozen days, Lucy arriving with the sun and leaving with the moon. Caspian never asked her what she did when she was gone and resolutely didn’t listen to the gossip among the sailors - whether about her whereabouts or her lack of clothing. He found himself growing increasingly fond of her and, should someone have asked him, he would have admitted that he never wanted her to leave.

“Can you stay above water for more than a day?” he asked her one day.

Lucy was finger-combing the mass of golden hair spilling over her shoulders and down her body as it dried under the blazing sun. “Possibly…” she said, slowly, “though I would imagine that it would take much to make me want to. I am of the sea now - even if I choose to walk on land I would have to return to the ocean from time to time.”

A part of Caspian that had been thinking about matters that he really didn’t want to acknowledge, took that information and stored it somewhere safe.

“We will have to leave soon,” Caspian admitted. “There are matters to take care of in Narnia that cannot be left alone for too long.”

Lucy’s fingers stilled. “Oh.” He didn’t think he imagined the brief flicker of sadness across her face. “I...hadn’t thought of you leaving.”

Impulsively, Caspian reached out to grasp her hand. “You could come with us! There’s plenty of Sea People in the sea outside Cair Paravel, you could--”

Lucy took her hand back, gently. “Caspian, I can’t just leave.”

He wanted to protest, but swallowed hard instead. “I understand. But--” He swallowed again. “You’d always be welcome.  _ I  _ would welcome you.”

His heart thudded hard as she looked at him, considering. When she reached across to cup his cheek, he thought he might faint.

“I think I might just to that,” she told him, thumb smoothing across his skin. “I know I will miss you.”

It would have to be enough, Caspian told himself. It  _ had _ to be enough.

That secret part of himself still plotted though. Quietly.

  
  
  


On the day they raised the anchors to leave for Narnia with the southern winds, Lucy tempted him out for a swim. She towed him beneath the surface for as far as he could hold his breath, showing him the coral reefs below and delighting in his yelps as she flipped them above the surface with nothing more than the powers of her legs. It was as humbling as it was frightening - when they talked onboard the ship, he could easily forget that she wasn’t human, not anymore. In the sea, in  _ her _ domain, little of the human she had once been remained.

They resurfaced on a tidal sank bank only just within sight of the ship, Caspian panting after a deep dive and Lucy wringing out the hair that never seemed to bother her beneath the water.

“I will miss this,” he told her, watching her twine long locks into a soggy braid she hung over her breast. “I will miss you.”

Lucy smiled, softly. “It’s been long since I talked much to someone not of the Sea People. I’ve...forgotten much. I had half forgotten my siblings.” She lay down on her back, staring up at the cloudy sky. “I think...perhaps it was a kindness. Remembering… I don’t know--its hard.” She turned on her side and met his eyes. “I’m glad I met you, Caspian of Narnia. And I will miss you. Very much.”

For the first time, Caspian dared to reach out to touch her face, tracing the curve of her cheek to the point of her chin. Her skin was softer than he’d thought it would be. As Lucy closed her eyes, leaning into the touch, he held his breath, the moment so precious he couldn’t stand to break it.

“You will always have a place in Narnia,” he whispered. “Always.”

A strange expression flashed across her face as she opened her eyes, a new look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before. “Always a King or Queen In Narnia…” she breathed, then abruptly, stood. “Come. I should bring you back to the ship.”

Confused, Caspian took the hand she offered him. She didn’t say a thing as she swam them back, but when he’d clambered into the swing lowered to pick him up, she kicked herself up against him, leaning in. Her lips tasted like sea salt as she kissed him, the moment gone almost before it began as she dived deep.

This time, Caspian didn’t think he imagined the image of a lion overlayed with that of the sea lion that appeared at her side in the clear water. 

“Are you ready to go home?” Drinian asked once he reached the deck.

Caspian stared out to the sea, remembering everything that Lucy had told him of the world beneath the waves. Then he squared his shoulders and met Drinian’s eyes. “It’s time.”

  
  
  


The seaside royal apartment stood ready a fortnight after the autumn equinox. What had once been an unused section of the rebuilt palace had been transformed into separate, walled-in space with access to the large bay and wide balconies that opened up on to the water. It might’ve represented a dream without a reality, but something inside him said that Lucy would come, and when she came, her home would be there. They had gathered what surviving items could be found in the ruins still standing on the cliffs and used them to build the apartment, golden chess pieces mingling with apple cuttings lining the inner walls.

Narnia had never forgotten its queen.

  
  
  


Christmas was closing in. Administration had slowed as the land began to be covered in snow. Caspian spent most of his time inside, discussing policy with advisors and making sure that everything was prepared for the celebrations. 

One night, sitting in front of an open fire with Cornelius, Caspian found his thoughts once again drawn toward Lucy. He had found the answers he sought when he set out that summer, but other questions had formed since. He also plain missed her. Her presence, her advice, her companionship. A few weeks it might’ve been, but he didn’t think he was alone in thinking they had grown close.

“Cornelius,” he started, staring down into his cup. “What do we know about the Queen’s Leap? When exactly did it happen? I thought it was just a story, so I never thought to ask. But do we even know?”

Cornelius harrumphed, a knowing look in his eyes. Drinian had not been at all quiet on their return.

“There is, of course, some doubt about the veracity of the records, but most written accounts I’ve had in my hands say it was in the days before Christmas. Not before the darkest day, but not long after either.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t thought it would be at that time of year, Caspian had to admit. In his mind, he had always pictured a summer’s day, or perhaps spring. For an event such as that to take place before Christmas...it felt sad.

He rubbed his hand against his tunic, trying to ease the itch in his hand. Cornelius frowned at him, then winced. At the same time, Caspian heard something, a low echo, a rumble that was felt more than heard.

“What…?” he began.

The door flew open. “Your highness!” the guard panted. “Come!”

Caspian stood, wrapping his sword belt around his hips without thinking. “What’s happened?”

“There is…” The guard swallowed. “You have a guest.”

And, suddenly, Caspian knew.

  
  
  


He found her in her new apartments, her hair dripping into a puddle at her feet as her fingers ran across the items found in the ruins. Her cordial and dagger had been slung across her hips, startling against her nakedness but nevertheless so utterly  _ right _ on her that Caspian couldn’t fault the guards for falling to their knees behind him. She was a Queen, a Narnian, in a way that went so deep that he didn’t think anything could ever strip it from her.

“Lucy,” he breathed, stuttering as he struggled to regain his breath.

She turned, and it was like seeing a sun. “Hello, Caspian.” 

For a moment, they just looked at each other, then Lucy burst into a wide smile. 

“I’m home,” she told him.

Caspian gave up then and strode over to embrace her, hiding his face in her wet hair and ignoring the fact he was making himself sopping wet in the process. 

“Welcome home,” he whispered, and could feel Narnia welcome her alongside him.

Their Queen was home.


End file.
